HEIDELBERG AIRSTRIP HUB OF NEIGHBORS' DISPUTE * LVIA AUTHORITY MAY TAKE COUPLE'S FARM FOR THE RUNWAY.

ELIZABETH BARTOLAI And DAN HARTZELL, The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

No sign marks the entrance to the Flying M Aerodrome in Heidelberg Township, hidden by cornfields in the farthest reaches of northern Lehigh County. Pilots just know where to turn from Mountain Road onto an unpaved driveway, dead-ending at a grassy landing strip.

Despite its small size, the airfield, 2-1/2 miles north of Germansville, is at the heart of a two-year dispute between its owner, Peter Maniscalco, and an elderly couple who had leased property to the airport for more than a decade.

Negotiations to renew the lease with Florence and Claude Solt broke down two years ago, but planes still land on their property.

Now the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, which owns and operates Lehigh Valley International Airport near Allentown, is considering taking over Flying M -- a move authority officials say could help keep the airstrip open, but the couple's attorney sees as a maneuver to eventually take their property by eminent domain.

To continue operating as an airport open to the public, the Flying M needs a three-acre parcel owned by the Solts. Their land makes up part of the runway and is needed to maintain the runway's minimum required distance, authority officials said.

Maniscalco previously asked the township and the state to take the property by eminent domain, without success.

"Why is this airport so darn important?" asked the Solts' lawyer, John D. Lychak of Macungie. He said his clients, a retired farming couple, are upset that anyone would want to take their land.

Lychak is perplexed as to why the airport authority would want to take over what authority Chairman Jeffrey A. Skinner called "a nickel-and-dime, grass-strip airport." Lychak said small airports in Slatington or Kutztown could house the 15 to 20 planes kept there. "It just seems strange to me that there is such interest."

One of the pilots who stables a small plane at Flying M and flies out of there is Samuel B. Saxton, an airport authority board member. He said the airport is appealing to hobby fliers.

"It's an important airport," said Saxton. "It's got some of the best approaches ... (and) it's not bothering anybody because it's out in the country."

Lehigh County Commissioners will consider an ordinance tonight that would recognize the expansion of LVIA by adding Flying M to the list of airports owned and operated by the authority. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Macungie Borough Hall, 21 Locust St. in the borough.

Despite the language in the ordinance, Saxton said, the authority has no immediate interest in acquiring Flying M or assuming its operation.

"There's no plan to take that airport over," he said. Rather, the intention is merely to bring the Flying M "under the umbrella" of the authority to help secure state and federal grants for improvements that could help the airport stay open, Saxton said.

Authority Executive Director George F. Doughty said the ordinance as written gives a mistaken impression that the authority is under mandate to acquire Flying M. Doughty said the ordinance is intended merely to allow the authority to try to acquire it or resolve the dispute between Maniscalco and the Solts.

He suggested the authority's involvement might help induce the parties to try to settle their lease differences on their own.

"It puts a little different focus on ... both parties, because my sense is, I don't think either party wants the airport authority directly involved," Doughty said.

"We're certainly not out to bail out the guy who owns it and ... make his problems go away."

The authority's only interest, said Doughty and Skinner, is to keep the airport open to the public.

Skinner said the authority fears that if the Flying M closes, planes kept there would be forced to find new homes. They could try to come to LVIA, which doesn't want the added air traffic cluttering the skies over Allentown and vicinity.

"It's not a big power-grab," Skinner said of the authority's interest in Flying M. Northampton County Council has passed a resolution similar to the one Lehigh County is considering. Because the two counties created the authority, approval is needed from both.

The authority is in the process of acquiring Queen City Airport in Allentown and Easton Airport (formerly Braden's Field) in Forks Township. The authority's 1997 long-range plan highlights the importance of the smaller general-aviation airports, including Flying M, and strongly recommends they remain open.

Besides the dispute over the Solts' lease, Skinner said the airport faces another threat: Maniscalco has had offers for the property from developers and might sell it, which could lead to closing the airstrip.

Maniscalco, a pilot for American Airlines, could not be reached for comment, despite repeated attempts. Christopher W. Gittinger, Maniscalco's attorney, said he has no phone number for his client other than the airport number and a "private cell-phone number" he declined to give out. Saxton said Maniscalco lives in New Jersey.

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Maniscalco bought the 39-acre Flying M property from Robert Marquardt in 1989 for $390,000, according to Lehigh County records. Marquardt had been leasing the runway parcel from the Solts, who live next door at 5315 Mountain Road, since about 1986, and the agreement continued after Maniscalco bought the property.

Maniscalco had been paying the couple $285 a year to rent the landing-strip parcel and $1 per year for a right-of-way to allow airport users to cross the couple's land to get to the airport.

Four years ago, Maniscalco sought to extend the length of the lease from one-year agreements to a longer term, or to purchase the parcel outright.

Florence Solt said that in 1997 they negotiated a five-year lease that would have put the rent at $300 a year. But Maniscalco wanted to tie the lease agreement to a separate land-swap the couple were trying to negotiate with him to allow their daughter to build a home near theirs, Lychak said.

The Solts didn't want to do that, and they rejected Maniscalco's request for a "right of first refusal" to purchase their property should they ever decide to sell it, Lychak said.

The Solts wanted to continue with one-year leases to protect their property and prevent the growth of the airport into something more than what Maniscalco's lawyer called "a quiet little grass airstrip."

The lease negotiations eventually broke down, and the Solts became disillusioned with Maniscalco, Lychak said. "They're fed up with him," the lawyer said. "They don't want to have anything to do with him any more."

Lychak said the airport could operate as a private, members-only flying club with a shortened runway; his clients' land then wouldn't be needed. But Doughty said the authority wants the airport to continue operating as it is, with pilots from outside the region being allowed to stop there to rest, visit or refuel.

Gittinger, who represents Maniscalco, doesn't believe the airport authority will have to seize the property. "I don't think it will come to that," he said.

Gittinger said his client is willing to resume negotiations for the lease, but the Solts have balked. The couple posted no-trespassing signs along the airstrip, but the landing lights remain, and vehicles still use their right-of-way to get to the airport. Pilots are still landing and taking off, despite the fact the Solts have revoked use of their land.

Lychak filed an eviction notice last week. An eviction hearing is scheduled Friday before District Justice Edward E. Hartman of Slatington. The eviction is needed to enforce the Solts' intent not to lease their land.

"These people are in their twilight years and they don't understand the whole thing," Lychak said of the Solts. "Here you have this ... couple who are being strung around by this airport owner who they've been good to. They are, in effect, being forced to lease" to Maniscalco.

The authority's long-range plan envisions the lengthening and paving of the Flying M runway and increased aviation traffic there. But those are things the Solts and many other neighbors don't want.

A petition opposing the authority's acquisition of Flying M, and the airport's possible expansion, has been signed by at least 100 area residents, said the couple's daughter, Irene Solt. Some residents plan to attend the commissioners' meeting tonight in Macungie.

Though Doughty doesn't expect the authority to take the Solts' land, he would not rule out condemning their parcel in the future. That would be the authority board's decision, "and I don't want to speak for them," he said.

Gittinger works for the law firm Fonzone and Ashley of Allentown, and a partner in the firm, Charles J. Fonzone, is the solicitor to the airport authority. Gittinger said he doesn't believe a conflict of interest exists by his representing Maniscalco "because there's no adverse interest" between the authority and the Flying M. "In fact, they are precisely the same interests," he said, meaning to keep the airstrip open.

Meanwhile, the Solts are trying to protect their property.

Claude Solt, 83, is a retired farmer who worked a number of other jobs over the years to make ends meet, his wife said. The couple purchased the 15-acre farm where they live in 1962.

"He never had a big-paying job,' said Florence Solt, 76, of her husband. "We worked hard for what we have and we want to keep it."

Mrs. Solt said the farm is the couple's only valuable asset and they want to keep the land as an inheritance for their two children. She also said they may need to use the farm's equity should she or her husband ever become ill.